Inside the Mind of Dior Creative Director Jonathan Anderson: How His Imagination Thrived at LOEWE

Inside the Mind of Dior Creative Director Jonathan Anderson: How His Imagination Thrived at LOEWE

Inside the Mind of Dior Creative Director Jonathan Anderson: How His Imagination Thrived at LOEWE

The Northern Irish designer will present his first collection, Dior Men Summer 2026, in Paris on June 27, 2025, skipping a haute couture show and then showing in Paris Fashion Week in October.

Delphine Arnault says she remembers climbing the stairs to a small apartment Jonathan Anderson rented near the Gare du Nord. She was immediately struck by the clarity of Anderson’s vision for JW Anderson. In short order the LVMH group took a minority share in JW Anderson and appointed him creative director of Spanish leather goods brand Loewe.

For reasons I understand deeply, based on our tremendous support for Maria Grazia Chiuri, we want her light to continue to shine brightly. However, Delphine Arnault’s point about Anderson staying 11 years at Loewe — when he absolutely declined other offers — is valid.

In AOC’s love for Chiuri, I been raving for years about Jonathan Anderson at LOEWE. And this 40-year-old massive talent, spontaneous but also deeply schooled in design and product development has his own visions for Dior’s future.

We’ve added some of our favorite campaigns from Jonathan Anderson’s LOEWE years.

Read More

Maria Grazia Chiuri Says 'Au Revoir' to Dior | AOC Shares a Breadcrumb from Jonathan Anderson

Maria Grazia Chiuri Says 'Au Revoir' to Dior | AOC Shares a Breadcrumb from Jonathan Anderson

Maria Grazia Chiuri Says 'Au Revoir' to Dior | AOC Shares a Breadcrumb from Jonathan Anderson

I want to speak a moment about what I interpreted as a Grade A***** breadcrumb to Chiuri’s fans from the new Dior Men’s Artistic Director, also ‘waiting in the wings for the next big announcement’ regarding Dior Women.

For those of us for whom Chiuri is an absolute goddess on every level, Anderson’s quiet gesture might have been a coincidence. But I come from the school of people who believe there is no such thing as a coincidence at the highest levels of LVMH. Not like this one.

it was Jonathan Anderson’s ad campaign and film for his LOEWE Spring Summer 2025 Pre-Collection campaign that was a breadcrumb ‘diamond in the rough’ message.

The message was the arrival of Lilith, the mythological demon goddess believed to be Adam’s first wife. Lilith had no desire to be a tradwife, and she stormed out of the Garden of Eden.

Read More

Vogue Italia's June 2025 Fendi Focus Is Timely As LVMH Titans 'Up the Ante'

Vogue Italia's June 2025 Fendi Focus Is Timely As LVMH Titans 'Up the Ante'

LVMH Titans Vuitton and Dior Create a Super Brands Team

I see these two LVMH titan brands — Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior — as bookends in this critical luxury business moment.

LVMH has a serious poker hand: Celine will debut in July with its new designer Michael Rider. The word in financial circles is that Loro Piana has edged out Celine in the 2.25-2.5 billion range.

If Fendi will meet the divine, luxury-brand goddess, LVMH financial rainmaker for real — in Rome, where her heart and spirit want to be, this team is playing on steroids, in this high-pressure, no mistakes allowed business moment.

All Roads Lead to Rome, But About Avignon . . .

Especially because AOC is so deep in writing about the Crusades, the birth of humanism and now Pope Leo as a foil to MAGA Republicans, my jaw-dropped as low as it ever has, when Nicolas Ghesquière, Artistic Director of Louis Vuitton Women roared into Avignon last week.

When LV roared out of town, the world’s biggest luxury brand had delivered a big message to all parties. To AOC LV said:

“For crying out loud, Anne. You love that our Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris has Adam, Eve and Lilith installed in a relief. Do you seriously think that the French were not deeply involved in the launch of the Renaissance?

If we’re in another historical moment that changes the course of history, France is center stage. Capeesh?

We had to move the Papacy to Avignon from 1309 to 1377, because Rome looked like a MAGA rally on January 6, 2021. Why don’t you write up that story, Anne!”

Trust me, guys. It’s all in the hopper.   ~ Anne

Read More

Harrison Ford for Glenmorangie Single Malt Whiskey by Lachlan Bailey

Harrison Ford for Glenmorangie Single Malt Whiskey by Lachlan Bailey

Recently, AOC was browsing through Lachlan Bailey’s IG and was stopped cold by this wonderful campaign for Glenmorangie Single Malt Whiskey [IG] built around actor Harrison Ford.

In addition to print and special events, the project was broken down into a series of 12 episodic films by actor and film-maker Joel Edgerton. It’s AOC’s intention is to post them all. Justin O’Shea, Creative Director Spirits Portfolio at Moët Hennessy [LVMH] represented Glenmorangie.

Read More

Jonathan Anderson Departs LOEWE | Where He's Headed Is Hardly a Secret

Jonathan Anderson Departs LOEWE | Where He's Headed Is Hardly a Secret

Designer Jonathan Anderson Resigns As Loewe’s Creative Director After 11 Years

The news was confirmed Monday, March 17 following months of speculation about the evolving chess game supporting creative talent at LVMH. The question is whether all players will be in place in a day or two, or the completion wait goes on.

After spending hours revisiting Jonathan Anderson’s body of work, taking the reins at Dior would be absolute perfection for him. Both Anderson are Chiuri are humanists, with a profound attachment to craft and human artistry. Both designers embrace the entire international community at large and are devoted to honoring history in fresh, new ways.

To seal the deal for AOC, watching the LOEWE Pre-Spring/Summer 2025 Campaign video, Lilith’s name appears as 1800 BC in the upper left hand corner of the art studio segment. That love note to feminists and Jewish women nails it for Jonathan Anderson at Anne of Carversiville.

Read More

LVMH Orchestrates 3 Next Act Chairs for Bertrand, Arnault, Angeloglou March 2025

LVMH Orchestrates 3 Next Act Chairs for Bertrand, Arnault, Angeloglou March 2025

LVMH Orchestrates 3 Next Act Chairs for Bertrand, Arnault, Angeloglou March 2025

LVMH has taken major steps to fortify management of its largest brands Louis Vuitton and Christian Dior with promotions from its own rich stable of executive talent.

Damien Bertrand, currently CEO of Loro Piana, will become deputy CEO of Louis Vuitton.

Pierre-Emmanuel Angeloglou, who joined Vuitton as strategic missions director for fashion and leather goods and was later named executive vice president, will become deputy CEO of Christian Dior Couture.

Frédéric Arnault, currently CEO of LVMH Watches, which comprises Tag Heuer, Hublot and Zenith, will become CEO of Loro Piana.

Read More

La Beauté Louis Vuitton Launches in Fall 2025, Dame Pat McGrath Creative Director

La Beauté Louis Vuitton Launches in Fall 2025, Dame Pat McGrath Creative Director

Louis Vuitton is launching La Beauté Louis Vuitton with Dame Pat McGrath

The makeup collection will initially launch with 55 lipsticks, 10 lip balms and eight eye palettes. "Working backstage for over 20 years at Louis Vuitton fashion shows, I am thrilled to now play such a key role in the launch of La Beauté Louis Vuitton, which is the result of extraordinary craftmanship, creativity and innovation," says McGrath.

McGrath will continue to oversee her own make-up brand, Pat McGrath Labs, which she launched in 2015 with great success. The LVMH structure for La Beauté Louis Vuitton mirrors the one in place with Guerlain’s Violette Serrat.

Read More

Miu Miu CEO Benedetta Petruzzo Moves to Christian Dior Couture as Managing Director

Miu Miu CEO Benedetta Petruzzo Moves to Christian Dior Couture as Managing Director

Given the stellar performance of Miu Miu in a post-COVID luxury landscape, it has to be a crushing blow to lose Miu Miu CEO Benedetta Petruzzo.

Delphine Arnault, chairman and CEO of Christian Dior Couture has confirmed Petruzzo’s arrival on Oct. 15.

"I am convinced that Benedetta's talent and leadership will be major assets in the continued development of Dior's activities and its international influence," Arnault said. "Her expertise in the luxury market will persist in enhancing the desirability and success of Dior. Together, with the excellence of the teams in place, we will carry on building the future and strengthening our organization."

Read More

Rihanna's Vogue China Cover Story and Fenty Beauty in China at Sephora

Rihanna's Vogue China Cover Story and Fenty Beauty in China at Sephora

Former Vogue China [IG] EIC Margaret Zhang delivered Rihanna on her final April 2024 cover story for the magazine. Rihanna takes two print covers and three digital ones in her story ‘Rihanna: Beauty In Individuality’, styled by Alvin Yu in images by Hailun Ma [IG].

Fenty Beauty, the beauty brand entered the Chinese beauty market on April 1 and is now sold at Sephora stores in China.

Western media is not inclined to report on or explore exactly where western luxury brands stand in China, beyond the economics of money to spend. The Chinese government is deeply involved in monitoring the tensions between China’s desire to be part of the global luxury market, while also protecting China’s identity and values.

Read More

LVMH and CFDA Launch 'Voices of Impact' Six-Part Series on Sustainability

LVMH and the Council of Fashion Designers of America launch ‘Voices of Impact’, a co-created video series of conversations about sustainability as it intersects with fashion and luxury.

The six-part series goes live on Tuesday, airing on cfda.com and CFDA’s YouTube channel, as well as lvmh.com. The series consists of six digital episodes with specific, sustainability topics: Powering a Just Transformation; Biodiversity; The Heart of Innovation; Circularity x Regeneration by Design; Creative Capital: Designing Purposeful Growth, and Climate Action: Fusion Energy.

Read More

Louis Vuitton Flight Mode Summer 2024 Honors New Paris LV Flagship Élysée Palace Hotel

Louis Vuitton Flight Mode Summer 2024 Honors New Paris LV Flagship Élysée Palace Hotel

Louis Vuitton introduces its Flight Mode summer 2024 collection for global travelers. The colorful collection is inspired by vibrant colors like yellow and also prints inspired by travel stamps connected to the famous Élysée Palace Hotel in Paris.

The newly-introduced Monogram canvas bags, like the Keepall and Side Trunk, are decorated with colorful Élysée Palace Hotel stamps. Built in 1896 in the Art Nouveau style, the Elysée Palace hotel — most recently the headquarters of HSBC Bank in Paris — is under a spectacular renovation as the first Louis Vuitton flagship hotel, scheduled to open in 2026. Read more details in our January 2024 post.

Apparently this ‘insider information’ about the reason Louis Vuitton is inspired in its Flight Mode summer 2024 collection by the Elysée Palace hotel was not in the LV press release. It’s not in their IG either.

Read More

Is Hermés Overtaking Louis Vuitton a Click-Bait Pipe Dream? Or a Scientific Math Possibility

Is Hermés Overtaking Louis Vuitton a Click-Bait Pipe Dream? Or a Scientific Math Possibility

Writing for B of F, Kit Rees cites Citibank analyst Thomas Chauvet’s April 12 note making the case that “Hermès has potential to surpass LVMH’s flagship Louis Vuitton in the coming years.”

Chauvet is a Managing Director heading up Citi’s European Luxury Goods Equity Research team in London. He argues that based on Hermés, best-known for its Birkin bags, hitting the “symbolic” €20 billion ($21.3 billion) level by 2027 or before, they will be in a position to overtake Louis Vuitton, who reached that milestone in 2022.

How this argument of Hérmes overtaking Louis Vuitton by reaching $21.3 billion in 2027, when Louis Vuitton compounded at +10% 2023-27 gives us $34.3 billion in 2027 is absolutely a key reason why I don’t have Thomas Chauvet’s job.

But read me anyway.

Read More

Pucci Spring 2024 Campaign with Vittoria Ceretti | House Update

Pucci Spring 2024 Campaign with Vittoria Ceretti | House Update

The watery effect of Pucci’s heritage Vivara print takes the stage in a new Spring 2024 campaign headlined by Vittoria Ceretti and captured by Mario Sorrenti [IG] at Villa L’Alma near Milan.

Pucci Artistic Director Camille Miceli has invited us to Rome on April 4 to view Vivara in action as "one of the house's most iconic prints, dating back to 1965 and featured in all the archives."

To many of us, Pucci is an absolute jewel, with speculation-only 2023 revenue of $100m. If any group can nurture her to Pucci’s maximum potential, it’s LVMH.

Previously working under LVMH’s Sidney Toledano as the chief executive of smaller brands like Celine and Fendi, Camille Micelli at Pucci — along with Belgian fashion executive Saar Debrouwere as Pucci CEO — will operate under the guidance of Michael Burke, who recently took the helm from Toledano.

I dig deeply into the LVMH approach to developing talent in the Michael Burke link above.

Read More

Rumor: Louis Vuitton Is At Bat for Beverly Hills Cheval Blanc Property

Rumor: Louis Vuitton Is At Bat for Beverly Hills Cheval Blanc Property

WWD shared the unconfirmed rumor that Louis Vuitton hopes to take over the defeated proposal for a 109-key Cheval Blanc hotel on the 50,000 sq foot property on Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills.

LVMH thought they had a deal going last spring for the Cheval Blanc in Beverly Hills. AOC knew LVMH had the wrong team negotiating on their behalf, long before we wrote the end of the very close vote story.

Weekend Paris Protests at New Louis Vuitton Hotel Site

The circumstances of the 2023 Cheval Blanc Beverly Hills no-vote is even more relevant today, after protesters took over the Paris construction site of the new Louis Vuitton hotel and store in Paris this weekend.

Read More

Tod's Group and L Catterton Sign Deal to Delist from Italian Stock Exchange or Merge

Tod's Group and L Catterton Sign Deal to Delist from Italian Stock Exchange or Merge

On Super Bowl Sunday, the Tod’s-LVMH decades-long business connection went into high gear with news that Tod’s Diego Della Valle, his brother Andrea Della Valle and the LVMH-backed private equity firm L Catterton have entered an agreement involving the launch of a tender offer at €43 per Tod’s share. The goal of delisting Tods’Group from the Italian stock exchange is in sight.

Today’s financial offer will leave the Della Valle Family with a 54 percent stake in Tod’s Group capital and assets; L Catterton will indirectly own 36 percent and Delphine SAS [a fully-owned subsidiary of LVMH] will retain a 10 percent stake.

Tod’s first announced a desire to delist its company from the Italian stock exchange in August 2022. That effort failed in October 2022, when a bid launched solely by the Della Valle family failed to reach the 90% threshold required to delist.

Anne of Carversville wrote days ago about about our growing understanding of the management style of LVMH/Bernard Arnault-trained executives. The trees planted have deep roots that bear premium fruit with long-term alliances, strong interpersonal friendships, trust and loyalties. It’s impressive.

Read More

LVMH Maison Acqua di Parma Yellow Cafe Opens in Seoul, Korea Designed by Dorothee Meilicjzon

LVMH Maison Acqua di Parma Yellow Cafe Opens in Seoul, Korea Designed by Dorothee Meilicjzon

Italian Maison Acqua Di Parma, a member of the LVMH family of artisans and artists-inspired maisons, brings its Italian heritage and Milanese creativity to Seoul with the Acqua di Parma Yellow Café. The design by Dorothée Meilichzon fuses Italian charm with the dynamic spirit of Seoul.  

Located at Lotte Avenuel Jamsil B1F, Acqua di Parma Yellow Café is much more than a café, proposing an immersion into the Maison’s unique aesthetic and heritage.   

Indeed, you are seeing a ‘wavy plate’ on a shelf [below] in Seoul’s new Acqua di Parma Yellow Café. If you seek a concrete signal about the hoped-for evolution of the new cafe in Seoul, recall the March 2022 pop-up in Milan for the brand’s new fragrance Colonia CLUB.

Read More

Can LVMH Write the Book on Developing Human Potential in Brands and Businesses?

Can LVMH Write the Book on Developing Human Potential in Brands and Businesses?

The more AOC studies LVMH from every angle, the more impressive the organization becomes. I’ve been researching ways in which LVMH has addressed the philosophy of humanism. The concept flourishes across the maisons, and it seems that great care is given to developing both the executives and the artisans.

Fundamental to the maisons is a similar vision for how the brands interact with their clients — and not only their elite-class clients. LVMH plants deep, dynamic forests for their brands.

As everyone says, LVMH moves fast, but it’s also the case that huge mistakes are avoided because of a culture of deep roots and also deep knowledge about the humans who work in their businesses.

Read More

LVMH Reports Record 2023 Financial Results Adding $30 Billion to Market Value

LVMH Reports Record 2023 Financial Results Adding $30 Billion to Market Value

Louis Vuitton, Moët & Chandon and Hennessy [LVMH] reported 2023 year-end sales of 86.15 billion euros [$93.46 billion], representing a 10% organic increase in fourth quarter and a 13% organic growth yearly increase against 2022.

Profit from recurring operations stood at €22.8 billion for 2023, up 8%. The current operating margin remained stable with respect to 2022. In addition, LVMH has advised the markets that it anticipates no further price increases across its business units in 2024.

Now that he is back to being the richest man in the world, thanks to a 12% rise in LVMH’s stock price on Friday, Arnault’s practice of engaging his children in collective conversations around every aspect of the entire LVMH business over Zoom lunches — early breakfast in New York — reminds us that the family is not a Rupert Murdoch-like clan of cannibals.

Read More

LVMH Unveils Its Future Maison des Métiers d’Excellence Supporting Long-Term Talent Ecosystem

LVMH Unveils Its Future Maison des Métiers d’Excellence Supporting Long-Term Talent Ecosystem

LVMH announced plans today to create a 21,500 square feet dedicated space for LVMH-associated craftsmanship in Paris' eighth arrondissement.  Conceived as a holistic hub of LVMH craftsmanship, the home for aspiring artisans will serve as a physical home for LVMH’s Institut des Métiers d’Excellence, the vocational training program founded in 2014.

Alexandre Boquel, Head of Development for LVMH’s Métiers d’Excellence, asserts that through this new Parisian venture, LVMH plans to hire 22,000 specialized craftspeople by the end of 2025, including 8,000 in France.

Chantal Gaemperle, LVMH's Executive Vice President of Human Resources/Synergies, conveyed to WWD: “The pandemic has fueled people’s need to find meaning and make something that they can understand and touch. There’s a desire to have a concrete impact and be together.”

Read More

Celine Fall 2023: Kaia Gerber Ads, Harrods London Parfumerie, Celine in Shenzhen, China

Celine Fall 2023: Kaia Gerber Ads, Harrods London Parfumerie, Celine in Shenzhen, China

Kaia Gerber returns to Celine’s new 2023 campaign in a collection named “Age of Indieness”, with its big reveal last December 2022 at the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles.

The Chasseur jacket, the Newspaper Triomphe bag, and bold sunglasses worn 24/7 express the Celine vibe in the new campaign.

Slimane’s images of Gerber channel the rebellious spirit of the mid-2000s. Kaia wears all the sleek and structured silhouettes we’ve come to expect from Hedi Slimane, who has refashioned the LVMH brand in his own image.

As Phoebe Philo is ready to return with her own eponymous collection, with a beloved following, LVMH financing and her Celine old mailing list, it’s important to note the great success that Celine has enjoyed under Hedi Slimane’s tenure as creative director.

Reality is that LVMH has achieved staggering results with the expansions of Louis Vuitton and also Dior. I would never second guess their goals on what is achievable with Celine.

Read More